North Shields veteran Gary Ormston keen to play on alongside talented generational crop of youngsters

Marc Nash’s men secured the Northern League title on Friday afternoon and lifted the champions trophy on Monday following their 4-2 win at West Allotment Celtic. That win over Jay Bates’ side saw Nash hand starts to several young players including JJ Chrisp, Josh Walker and Dan Turner.

That has been a constant theme throughout what has been a highly successful season for North Shields with former Newcastle United academy keeper Olly Marshall establishing himself as the club’s number one and Cam Cunningham establishing himself as one of the Northern League’s brightest prospects. Their title win and subsequent promotion means the crop of promising youngsters will get their opportunity to test themselves in non-league’s fourth tier - and Ormston sees no reason why they can’t succeed.

He told ChronicleLive: “The young players have been an absolute pleasure to play alongside this season. I’ve been playing for 18 or 19 seasons and I have been amongst loads of young lads during that time.

“I’ve tried to be the mentor and all that - but this current crop is absolutely second-to-none. They listen to everything you say, every word of advice and they’ve also got a little bit about them as well.

“They are talented lads. They’ve been brilliant and we are massively looking forward to what is ahead of us at the next level.”

At the age of 38, there had been suggestions Ormston could bring an end to his 19-year playing career when the current season comes to a close with next weekend’s visit to West Auckland Town. The midfielder has rejected offers to move to a higher level in the past after being the subject of interest from clubs currently in the National League North and Northern Premier League.

However, he remains keen